Caravan insurance FAQ’s

Quite a few questions come up with surprising regularity from people who are new to caravanning.

Here some of those FAQs on the subject of caravan insurance will be dealt with.

Is caravan insurance a legal requirement?

Unfortunately, this has to be one of those infuriating “yes and no” answers!

Under what might be termed normal circumstances, there is no legal requirement for you to take out touring caravan insurance.

However, when being used (towed) on a public road, your caravan must be covered by a minimum of third party liability. That’s in case you/it cause injury to someone or damage to their property.

Normally, this cover is provided by the towing vehicle’s insurance but it’s worth checking that to be 100% sure.

So, I don’t need touring caravan liability cover?

That’s a completely different question.

It’s worth being clear that typically, your car’s insurance won’t cover your caravan once you’ve:

• unhitched it;

• taken it off of the public highway (this point should be validated against your car insurance).

What that means is best illustrated by an example. If you were unhitching your caravan and once done, it accidentally rolled away and injured a bystander on the site, then your car insurance might not cover you.

Yes, you should consider public liability cover for your caravan that’s included as part of broader touring caravan insurance. This is important as it protects you against claims made by third parties for injuries or damages that occur in or around your caravan or park home. For instance, if a neighboring caravan is damaged while setting up at a site, liability coverage can cover legal and medical expenses. Similarly, if a guest slips and falls while visiting a park home, then liability coverage can take care of things. In this way, public liability not only helps owners of caravans but also park home owners as well. If you or somebody else desires to read up more on park home insurance, click now on the appropriate link for further information.

Are no other forms of cover mandatory?

Typically:

• if you have finance or a loan secured against the caravan, then there’s a fair chance that your loan agreement will oblige you to maintain fully comprehensive touring caravan insurance on it at all times. If you fail to do so, you might be legally in breach of contract;

• some sites may require evidence that you have public liability cover in place for your tourer before they’ll allow you to occupy your pitch. They’d be perfectly entitled to do so.

In a similar vein,

What about external items stored around the caravan when in use?

Policy detail varies significantly here. For example:

• some won’t cover damages against storm damage at all, whereas others may do so providing you have stowed it away when not with the caravan;

• policies typically might not cover external items such as pools, slides plus tables and chairs if you’re away from the caravan.

You will need to look at your policy or quotation to be sure – or speak to a recognised expert in touring caravan insurance.

Is my caravan insured when standing at home?

Typically yes but do be aware of a few things to think about:

• some providers may offer discounts if you garage your caravan when not in use;

• they might do so too if it’s stored off road on a driveway you own;

• you may find that some policies won’t accept caravans being parked unhitched on the public highway. Others may do so but might place numerous conditions on the policy and you might find a higher premium is being charged as well.

Why do I need fully comprehensive cover including contents? Who would break into a caravan?

The days when touring caravans were fairly Spartan and scratch-built are now LONG gone for the vast majority of touring caravan owners.

The level of equipment and contents (e.g. TVs, microwaves) is impressive and they’d be painfully expensive to replace if stolen or damaged in say a fire. That’s why contents cover exists.

In terms of the theft dimension, you should be aware that some thieves specialise in targeting caravans both in terms of total theft of the vehicle and for burglary.

So, while this cover isn’t obligatory given the typically fairly modest cost, you might think that it’s just not worth taking the risk of doing without it.